Apr 25 Ittou | 麵屋一燈

Sleek and minimal in every respect, this is new school Tokyo ramen at its finest. Menya Ittou opened in 2010 and has been ranked among Tokyo's top 20 ramen experiences ever since. The master, Yukihiko Sakamoto, now has five shops in the Koiwa area, all serving different menus and specialties, as well as three shops overseas in Singapore and Thailand. This shop, the original, remains Sakamoto-san's best.

Patrons line up daily to slurp down bowls of both the tsukemen and the ramen. Both are outstanding. Made with gyokai, tonkotsu, and chicken — the birds are specially sourced from a farm in Japan's Ibaraki Prefecture, northeast of Tokyo — the soup is rich, savory, and memorable. Aside from some tender, slow-cooked buta and tori chashu, the bowls also come with ground chicken balls containing crunchy bits of cartilage and some interesting spices. The noodles are house made from six varieties of flour. This is a must-hit on the Tokyo scene — flawless.